|
My Hometown....... Hey! It's Charlotte, it's where I'm from. After living there 35 years, I've seen many changes. It's not a bad place to live, it's no New York City, but it's got much to do. I wish it were easier to get from one place to another and I wish it had a bigger gay area, but what makes Charlotte unique is it is a city of neighborhoods. It has resisted until recently from becoming "urban" wanting to be a suburban city. Well, they asked for it, they got it. Most people will tell you that you have to have a car. That's not really true, you only need one if you want to go somewhere. There is a pretty good size bus system but because of the geographic size (540,000 people, 230 square miles equals 2340 people per sq. mi. where as New York City has 23,000 per sq. mi.) it takes a long time to get anywhere that way. There is also light rail being planned, but that's a few years away. In the mean time, check out these neighborhoods, some have history, some have style, and some just deserve to be mentioned. UPTOWN
Charlotte's center city, "Uptown" is what call it, it's mostly tall, mostly new, and mostly business. Home to Bank of America, First Union, and Duke Energy plus a plethora of other smaller business which shut down after 6PM. You can't escape the crowds during the day but after 6PM, the crowds have all gone home. The streets, especially in the arts district, again light up after 10PM but between 6 & 10, you can have the place to yourself. Although there are many restaurants opening, many are chains, but some exceptions exist. Merts Heart & Soul and the new Brooks Burgers come to mind. Surrounding Uptown are four wards: First Ward
First Ward was recently home to Earle Village. A notoriously dangerous public housing complex that has recently been removed. Now, besides being home to the Afro-American Cultural Center, it is being rejuvenated with new housing, both town homes and single family. Second Ward
Second Ward is mostly home to Government Buildings and Marshall Park. More ducks then people live here although that wasn't the case for most of the century when it was home to Brooklyn, a black neighborhood of single family homes and small business' that were demolished during urban renewal of the 1960's. Most of the families were moved to Earle Village which was demolished in the 1990's. Third Ward
The home of Erickson Stadium and The Carolina Panthers and will soon house the new arena and The Charlotte Hornets. A mixture of multi-family and single family homes cover this area along side of Cedar Yard, converted warehouses, bars and restaurants. The housing hasn't changed a lot over the years but since the stadium was built in the mid 90"s, business growth has been booming. Fourth Ward
Fourth Ward is Charlotte's oldest neighborhood and has some of it's most dynamic homes as well as Charlotte's first high-rise apartment building. You can also visit Charlotte's oldest two cemeteries. I'm a cemetery freak by the way.
|
|
©2000-01 All Rights Reserved |
